points to ponder

When I was around thirteen and my brother was ten, Father promised to take us to the circus. But at lunch there was a phone call. Some urgent business required his attention downtown. My brother and I braced ourselves for the disappointment. Then we heard him say, “No, I won’t be down. It will have to wait.” When he came back to the table, Mother smiled and said, “The circus keeps coming back, you know.” “I know,” said Father, “but childhood doesn’t.” Arthur Gordon